Grass swales are important elements of the urban green infrastructure that convey and attenuate urban runoff and improve its quality mostly through stormwater infiltration into, and retention of conveyed pollutants by, swale soils. The retention of metals by grass swales was addressed in this study investigating the enrichment of swale soils by three common traffic-related metals: Cu, Pb and Zn. Three swales of various characteristics (L1, L2, L3) were selected for study and their soils were sampled by coring the top 30 cm and dividing the cores into 5 cm thick layers. Cumulative metal burdens were compared to those modelled by the proprietary StormTac Web model, which estimates annual loads of specific constituents for the given land uses and stormwater treatment. The comparisons of measured (MBm) and simulated (MBs) metal burdens retained by swales showed that the measured values exceed the simulated ones, as described by average ratios MBs/MBm = 0.64, 0.50 and 0.59, for swales L1, L2 and L3, respectively. The measured burdens were calculated after subtracting the native soil metal concentrations, assumed equal to those found in the deepest sampled layer, 25–30 cm below the surface. The results suggest the feasibility of assessing performance of grass swales by modelling metal (Cu, Pb, Zn) retention by swales, however for older facilities considered for rehabilitation, the simulated results should be supplemented by soil chemistry sampling.